Valley Regional Transit Board of Directors approves agency’s final bus network redesign

On Oct. 2, the Valley Regional Transit (VRT) Board of Directors voted to approve the agency’s final bus network redesign. VRT, the regional public transportation authority for Ada and Canyon counties, conducted three phases of public outreach throughout the year to guide the redesign process. The changes will be implemented in summer 2024.

The final redesign, which represents a 14 percent increase in total bus service, includes more frequent service on highly used routes in Boise, new bus routes in Caldwell, new Saturday service on select routes and the revival of services previously slated for elimination.

“After exploring scenarios with the public and seeing the demand for quality transit, our funding partners stepped up with additional contributions to mitigate service reduction,” VRT CEO Elaine Clegg said. “What we thought was going to be a series of service cuts ended up being growth opportunities because leaders in the Treasure Valley saw the potential of this change.”

Public input – including more than 2,000 points of feedback since April – and additional funding commitments from local partners made the following changes possible:

• Maintained service to southeast Boise with a redesigned Route 17 (the southeast Boise Route 1 was initially proposed for elimination).
• Maintained service to north Boise with Route 10 in the North End and a restructured Route 16 serving Harrison Hollow (Route 10 was initially proposed for elimination and Route 16 for a decrease in service area).
• Maintained service to the Central Bench with a modified Route 4 to serve from Towne Square Mall to downtown Boise via Franklin, serving Borah High School and maintaining service on sections of Latah (Route 4 was proposed for elimination).
• Improved efficiency in the Central Bench with Route 28, which has been modified to work with the restructured Route 4.
• Timing and bus stop adjustments to fit rider requests.
• Expanded first/last mile options by adding Lyft transit connections stops and expanding Lyft Late Night to better reflect job market locations.

Areas of negative impact include the loss of service in Boise along Owyhee between Overland and Elder, on Five Mile, McMillan, and Curtis and on sections of Maple Grove, Milwaukee and Overland.

“We will continue to share with our local leaders the tremendous value of public transit – value we heard about constantly this year from our riders – so we can look to growth in the future rather than reduction,” Clegg said. “Currently, our funding doesn’t allow much room for expansion so we must make strategic decisions with the amount of service we offer.”

 Lacking taxing authority, VRT plans for transit services based on contributions of funding from cities, counties and other partners in the region.

VRT’s Better Bus initiative is the next step of the 2018 ValleyConnect 2.0 vision, which incorporated significant public input and pointed toward a more frequent bus network with regional connections, better technology and regional rail. ValleyConnect 2.0 outlined steps toward a better regional network with higher-frequency routes and updated bus stops. The plan highlighted the Treasure Valley’s need for four times the service and funding to meet regional demand and match service levels with peer agencies.

“The work we did in 2018 really set the stage for where we are now,” said Stephen Hunt, VRT’s chief development officer. “We currently run as much service as we can within our budget. We learned that we need four times more service to meet community needs and we also learned that the public is willing to support more.”

Each year, VRT plans for transit services that align with available funding from cities, counties and universities in the region. VRT has been working closely with funding partners, including the cities of Boise, Caldwell, Meridian and Nampa.

Service changes this year were guided by VRT’s Board of Directors, as well as pulbic input and ridership data.

Public input

1. In the first phase (April 2023), VRT asked participants to help define priorities for the network redesign, primarily around the focus of services on frequency or coverage. The agency received 407 surveys and hundreds of additional comments. The feedback, along with guidance from the Board of Directors, pointed VRT in the direction of focusing on more frequent service in high-ridership areas, among other priorities.
2. In the second phase (May-June 2023), VRT asked participants to provide feedback on three scenarios that represented various iterations of route design. The scenarios included similar and increased budgets with different focuses on coverage and frequency. VRT staff used this feedback from 386 survey responses, 570 individual comments and dozens of additional comments via email, phone, social media, open houses and other in-person outreach to create a final proposal.
3. In the final phase of public outreach (August 2023), VRT presented a final redesign proposal to the public. This proposal took elements of the three scenarios from Phase 2 and was guided public feedback to date. In Phase 3, VRT received surveys from 186 individuals who provided more than 480 comments on individual routes or services.

Using feedback from all three phases, VRT made final recommendations to the VRT Board of Directors with various route consolidations. The recommendations allowed the agency to retain many of the services the public desired, including service in Boise’s North End, the Central Bench and southeast Boise.

Ridership data

VRT used a variety of metrics to compare routes and prepare the network redesign, including:

• Ridership: Using the ridership metric of “boardings per hour by route,” VRT reviewed routes that were in the bottom 25 percent for ridership for change or reinvestment.
• Proximity to bus stops: VRT examined the number of people and jobs that are within 1/4 mile of a bus stop to measure coverage or the number of individuals that are likely to choose to take transit because it is close to them.
• Proximity to higher-frequency routes: VRT evaluated each service concept by the number of people within 1/4 mile of a bus stop with 15-minute service or better during peak periods and 30-minute service or better throughout the day. This measures the number of people who are more likely to choose to take transit because transit is both close and convenient for their travel needs.
• Service frequency: VRT evaluated the percentage of service hours dedicated to routes with service every 30 minutes or better throughout the day to determine how much of the system is dedicated to higher-frequency routes.
• Potential systemwide ridership: Based on existing route performance, VRT compared the proposed concepts to one another on potential systemwide ridership.